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Held or being before light; -- a word applied to assemblies of Christians, in ancient times of persecution, held before light in the morning. "Antelucan worship." De Quincey.

The portico, or narthex in an ancient temple or church.

om authors; a collection of poems or epigrams; -- particularly applied to a collection of ancient Greek epigrams.

ttributes to the Deity or to a polytheistic deity. Taylor. Specifically, one of a sect of ancient heretics who believed that God has a human form, etc. Tillotson.

One devoted to the study of ancient times through their relics, as inscriptions, monuments, remains of ancient habitations, statues, coins, manuscripts, etc.; one who searches for and studies the relics of antiquity.

Old; ancient; of genuine antiquity; as, an antique statue. In this sense it usually refers to the flourishing ages of Greece and Rome. For the antique world excess and pride did hate. Spenser.

The quality of being antique; an appearance of ancient origin and workmanship. We may discover something venerable in the antiqueness of the work. Addison.

The quality of being ancient; ancientness; great age; as, a statue of remarkable antiquity; a family of great antiquity.

One of a sect of ancient Christians, who, in supposed imitation of the first believers, renounced all their possessions.

Of or pertaining to Appius. Appian Way, the great paved highway from ancient Rome trough Capua to Brundisium, now Brindisi, constructed partly by Appius Claudius, about 312 b. c.

The bishop's seat or throne, in ancient churches.

Ancient; pertaining to the earliest period in geological history.

An ancient, antiquated, or old-fashioned, word, expression, or idiom; a word or form of speech no longer in common use.

judge, who sits as deputy to the archbishop, is called the Dean of the Arches, because he anciently held his court in the church of St. Mary-le-Bow (de arcubus). It is now held in Westminster. Mozley & W.

One of the chief magistrates in ancient Athens, especially, by preëminence, the first of the nine chief magistrates. -- Ar*chon"tic, a.

An ancient wormhole in sand, preserved in the rocks. Dana.

An ancient astronomical instrument.

, or resembling, a bracelet or ring; consisting of rings or circles. Armillary sphere, an ancient astronomical machine composed of an assemblage of rings, all circles of the same sphere, designed to represent the positions of the important circles of the celestial sphere. Nichol.

justly speaking, armory, which is but one branch of heraldry, is, without doubt, of very ancient origin. Cussans.

the field for war; also, the body of vassals called or liable to be called to arms, as in ancient France.